TARDIS Travels Old and New
by JustGatheringClouds
Summary: What happens to The Doctor and Clara when they end up trapped ina void that sends them to old places are all to familiar to the Doctor and yet all new to Clara, can their feelings for one another prove to be a lifeline or a curse that will drive them further apart
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: Okay so I actually really miss Clara and TheDdoctor. I just never wanted them to part ways like ever I could watch both Peter and Jenna travelling around with one another for the rest of time. I seriously love their relationship and it is easy to see just how much The Doctor loves her. So I had to do this and just see where things ended up. I am not good at writing the Twelfth Doctor so please just bare with me on this. I hope I haven't done him too badly.**

 **I got the idea from watching New Earth the other day or re-writing the episodes only having Clara and The Doctor instead. Plus with a few little twists and changes along the way and a few little changes to the story lines and such. Not sure how it will pan out but we will see. I realise that this chapter doesn't fall into that category, but I started writing this before and well it seemed to good to actually miss up on.**

 _Summary: What happens to The Doctor and Clara when they end up trapped ina void that sends them to old places are all to familiar to the Doctor and yet all new to Clara, can their feelings for one another prove to be a lifeline or a curse that will drive them further apart_ _  
_

 _Rated M: For Future chapters_

"How can you be bored in here, Clara? Have you not been to the library yet, Clara It's got every book ever written in there, except Alice in Wonderland. I have no idea where that book went off to, that is the last time I ever let the March Hare in my library."  
Clara just looked a little confused. "What?" she said to him. "Come on, that is not real. It's a kids book."  
"Clara Oswald you surprise me. You get chased by aliens and pick a fight with a Raven that stops your heartbeat and yet you don't believe in Wonderland."  
"Fine, take us there then? If its real, take me to wonderland" she said to him whispering the last sentence into his ear with a flirtatious smile and wrapped her arms around him from behind, which caused The Doctor to instantly flinch and tense up as he usually did. "I dare you"  
"Fine, if you insist on it, but don't blame me of the ride gets a bit bumpy, that rabbit hole isn't as big as Lewis Carrol says it is."  
"Whatever" Clara said to him as she let go of him and headed towards the corridor that lead to the library. "I am going for a look around this library of yours, plus I need a shower. Please try and keep out of trouble for a little while."  
"Just use the shower in the library, it will save you time, it's at the far end next to the classics. Just be careful with Peter Pan. I can't seem to find that one. Never let River into your library. I let her in and then I couldn't find Peter Pan, we got into this huge fight and I sulked for a month with otters. Well it wasn't all that bad though I mean, otters are very clever. You can learn a lot from otters"  
"I am sure you can, Doctor" Clara called back as she disappeared into the corridor and out of The Doctor's line of sight., yet that didn't stop him calling to her again about his meeting with animals.  
"Just never talk to a Giraffe, they're racist. Good job Martha Jones didn't know what they were on about"  
The doctor wasn't really paying much attention to time right now. If anything he was just trying to pass it quickly whilst he made the flight through the Time Vortex to Wonderland. If Clara wanted to go there then that is exactly where he was going to take her.  
"Doctor, why is there a copy of the bible in your shower?" Clara's voice rang out from behind him, which made him spin around and just drink her for a moment. She looked amazing as always, yet he couldn't let that hinder him. "I like to read when I have a shower. Seriously, you are asking stupid questions now."

"You read in the shower? How do you stop the pages from getting all wet then?"

"What else do you want me to say?"  
Yet before she could say anything Clara toppled backwards as the TARDIS jolted and almost fell over the back of the railing, only to be caught around the waist just in time by The Doctor falling into her and pinning her to the railing. "Sorry," he muttered with a smile and moved backwards.

"Its fine" Clara smiled, she felt her heart rate quicken, just being that up close and personal with him seemed to do that a lot, even more so recently. She had a feeling she knew why and yet just didn't want to admit it. She had to be glad that her heart didn't beat anymore, as she knew it would be thudding in her chest right now if it did and would totally give her away.

"You going to stand there all day or do you want to explore Wonderland?"  
Clara turned to look at him "You are joking? Seriously? I thought you were just joking about that"  
The Doctor just nodded. "Yep, just one thing you should know. Do not trust the Cheshire Cat. Nothing good about that cat."  
"You are worried about the cat? Isn't it the Hatter we need to be concerned about? I mean isn't he as mad as a box of tricks"  
"The Hatter is fine, I mean yeah he is mad as anything but he is just as sane as I am. Travelled with him for a couple of years, although in the end he stayed here with Alice. I think. Not really sure. Doubt he will remember me anyway I looked a lot different back then."  
"You travelled through time with the Mad Hatter?"  
"Hey stop with the mad bit, he isn't all that insane. Not really especially not when you put him next to the March Hare." he replied. "Who said anything about travelling in time?"

The Doctor held out a hand to Clara, who took it without a second thought and laced her fingers in through his and the pair walked out the TARDIS  
The Doctor just smiled and then took Clara's hand and grinned at her "Let's go and explore wonderland but look out for the Cheshire Cat. I don't trust him"

"Yeah you already said that but why? What is wrong with him?"  
"Clearly you have never met that demented feline creature"  
"You wouldn't be talking about me now would you?" came a voice from behind them both and the head of a cat with a huge grin floated around. "Whatever have I done to you to get you to not trust me?"

The Doctor turned around and frowned at the Cheshire Cat "First of all I just don't trust cats and besides I wouldn't trust anyone who just randomly disappears and appears the way you do. It isn't natural to do that"  
"Well if I remember correctly that is exactly what you do, Doctor. Or do you not remember?" The Cheshire cat replied to him. "Would you rather I did it slowly and warned you of it before I did? I wouldn't want to offend you."  
"I don't make myself disappear like you. My box does and the way you do it is just unsettling"

Clara pursed her lips together and tried her hardest not to laugh. She couldn't help it, just the way he seemed so angry about this cat. Almost as though he was a little jealous about it having the same sort of ability as his TARDIS. Normally she would have said something but this was too good a conversation to interrupt

The Cheshire Cat just laughed and disappeared, appearing again right in front of The Doctor's face. "You really don't remember the last time we met do you? I used to be a normal cat, well a normal cat with a grin. Until you can along and trapped my tail in the Chameleon Circuit, ever since then I have been able to disappear as I wish"  
The Doctor just glared at the cat "Do not talk such codswallop. I did not trap your tail you did that yourself and I do not want to carry on this conversation. I am sick of you and this conversation now" he didn't seem to notice that Clara was trying not to laugh. He was just too angry at the cat.  
"I most certainly did not and you know it. Although you are probably right it is best we end this conversation before you end up losing the argument and we all know how childish you get when you do that." The Cheshire Cat replied to him.  
Clara placed a hand to the Timelord's shoulder, sensing that he was getting a little too angry "Calm down it is only a cat" she smiled and then turned to the cat "I do apologise about his behaviour, I think that it has been a long day for him"  
"It has not been a long day for me Clara, it is that...stupid disappearing cat. I don't trust it one bit" The Doctor almost shouted  
"Yes I know but there is no need to get so cross Doctor" Clara replied "Stop acting like a child for once in your life. You cannot go through time and space acting like a spoilt brat"

As Clara spoke The Cheshire Cat moved to look at her "Well I don't believe we have met, madam" he said to her with an even wider grin.  
Clara smiled at him "I do not believe that we have. It is a true pleasure I must say" she said to him "I really do apologise for my friend he doesn't know when to shut up and he cannot face it when he is wrong and someone else is right!" Clara looked back at The Doctor, the smile still on her face. "Oh come on, you are so not mad at me. You forgot just one little detail. I know that face." she said to him. "Come on at least try and smile, you know you want to."

The Doctor tried everything that he could to stay mad at her and yet seeing the smile on her face made it impossible and he couldn't stop a smile creeping onto his face.

The Cheshire Cat laughed. "It is fine with the people and creatures that live in here you get used to that sort of thing. I am guessing you have never had the misfortune of getting yourself into an argument with The Hatter, it is scary at the best of times only never tell him that I said that he would never let me live it down" he replied to her and floated around her, resting on her shoulder. "So anywhere in particular that you would like to go? I can be an excellent tour guide to those that I like"

"No I can't say I have." Clara replied to the cat. "I am not sure where we want to go. Anywhere with adventure"

Clara just smiled back at The Doctor once she had noticed his smile "Told you" she said to him and took his hand. "You are rubbish at being mad at me. Always have been"  
The Cheshire Cat grinned widely, ever wider than normal. "Well I could always take you to The White Queen's Palace, unless you would rather a different place that is." he disappeared "just this way he said once more appearing at the end of a path  
"No offence but I think I am going to take Clara around the sights of Wonderland, let's just hope our paths don't cross again to soon" The Doctor almost insulted the Cheshire Cat. If anything it was more just because he felt a little jealous. If he wasn't mistaken that cat had been flirting with Clara a little too much for his liking.

"You know he isn't all that bad. I actually rather liked him in the books. He always was one of my favourites" Clara defended the Cheshire Cat  
The Doctor only thought that was more of a reason than he needed not to follow. He had already seen enough of Clara and that animal flirting and he wanted her to himself for once, yet apparently no matter where they seemed to go these days it was impossible. "I am sure that it will turn up at some point"

Clara laughed. "Come on, let's go and see who else we can find in here" she said to him and tugged his arm and pulled him off to a side path and down a road that she had no idea where it lead to, but she knew that as long as she was with him she could face anything and not feel scared.

The Doctor simply grinned at her "As long as you are sure you wouldn't rather stay here and flirt with that animal."

"Flirt with a cat? Seriously? How do you flirt with a cat?" she said to him. "Actually don't answer that I don't want to know what you are going to say. Do you even know where we are going?"  
The Doctor looked to her "I don't know how you manage to flirt with a cat but you certainly seemed to be doing a good job of it." he smiled "Haven't got a clue. Left and I think South although it could be East, possibly West"  
Clara looked up at him. "I thought I told you not to answer that. Do you ever listen to anything that anyone says to you?" she said to him with a wide smile. "So basically you are just walking into the wilderness without any clue as to where you are going. That defiantly sounds like you."  
"Of course I listen to you Clara, I just thought that I would answer your question. It would have been rude not to" he said to her. "Yes that is what we are doing, going off not knowing where we are going"  
"So do you always listen to me or just when you see fit too" she said to him with a smile, before turning her head to look back where she was going again. She could see something ahead, some sort of animal and wasn't sure what it was "What is that?" she asked.  
"Just when I need to listen to you. But you do the same. I am sure that you probably don't listen to me all of the time" he said to her.  
"You always need to listen to me, which is why you nearly get yourself killed half the time because you don't listen to me when I warn you about things"  
"Like I said I listen to you when I need to you just don't always..."

"What is that?" Clara asked, cutting him off.

The Doctor followed her gaze to where there seemed to be some sort of animal approaching them. "I don't know but just be careful because we don't know what it is or whose side it is on" he whispered to her.  
Clara gripped his hand tightly. She may have read the books before as a child, yet that gave her all the more reason to worry what they were going to be faced with. "Do not leave me, okay. If you run then we don't spilt up to confuse it. We stick together, you got that?"

The Doctor nodded his head and gripped tightly to Clara's hand and he then grinned suddenly "How nice it is to see you again. That is if you remember me as I have changed quite a bit my old friend" he said as he saw who it was.

The animal seemed happy to see him "Of course I remember you. How could I..." he started but then looked to Clara "Pretty lady" he said pointing to her.  
"Yes, sorry let me introduce you. Clara meet the March Hare and March Hare, meet Clara. Although his real name is Thackery. People just never really seem to use it all that much"

Clara just frowned slightly and made a face as the two of them started talking. She wasn't sure she trusted him if anything. He had always seemed a little off to her in the books, even more so than The Hatter. Something about him just always seemed to strike her as odd, even for Wonderland creatures. "Nice to meet you?" she said to him, "Is he safe?" she whispered to The Doctor. "I just mean he has always struck me as a little strange."

The Doctor just smiled at her "Of course he is safe. He's a bit mad but then again we all are" he replied before he looked back to the March Hare "How have things been since we last met?"  
The March Hare looked to him "Nothing has changed, except the Red Queen" he said and then said nothing for a few moments "She has another creature. She had the Jabberwocky but now there is something else"  
"What is it? Do you know?" The Doctor asked him  
The Hare shook his head "I don't know. It's nothing like the Jabberwocky. It is worse"

Clara still wasn't all that convinced about the Hare, yet all the same she trusted The Doctor and his judgement, so she left it at that? "I am sure it has its Achilles heel we just need to find it." she replied to the Hare. "Do you know anything about it that might give us an upper hand?" Clara continued. She wasn't sure exactly what she was trying to get at, but in her mind the more information that they could gather the more they had to hold against this creature, if anything it might give them the upper hand and allow them to defeat it.

The Hare looked to Clara as she spoke and then shook his head and then looked to The Doctor "It has Hatter" he said to him.  
The Doctor looked confused "What do you mean it has Hatter? It has Hatter where?"  
"The Red Queen captured Hatter and locked him in a huge cage along with Mallyumpkin and a few others and the thing is guarding it. No one can get past it" The Hare replied and then seemed to get distracted "ooh, butterfly"

Clara just sighed gently and folded her arms to her chest. That wasn't exactly what she had asked him, yet she was sure that she wasn't going to get a straight answer from The Hare. Yet if she really started to think she was sure she could find a way to get around his riddles and get to the bottom of it all. "Thackery!" she exclaimed "Where is this cage? And don't start talking in riddles just tell us the location, alright?"

The Doctor just glared at Clara "Oi, leave him alone. There isn't any need to be rude to him" he said to her and then looked back to the Hare "I'm sorry about her. She does that. You know once she had an argument with Ghandi and that isn't all. Maybe I should tell you sometime" he said to him.  
"Will you shut up about that?! I did not have an argument with Ghandi, you just made that up. We haven't even met him" she said to him with a frown, still she couldn't ever be mad at him for long. "Besides I wasn't being rude. I didn't know how else to word it to actually get a sensible answer"  
"There is a hidden garden behind the garden of the Red Queen's castle. Only a handful of people know where it is and those people would never tell where it is as they are all on her side" The Hare replied once there was a small shred of silence between The Doctor and Clara.

Clara looked back to the Hare. "So we need to get captured then, right? I mean that is the best way to get into the cage. How do we do that? Any ideas, Doctor?"

"No, we don't need to get captured because then how would we get out?" he said and then looked to the Hare "You coming along with us?" he asked.  
The Hare nodded a bit too enthusiastically and jumped on the spot

"Well that is your major plan tactic out the window. You always say the best way to get in on anyone's plans is to get captured, yet when it isn't your idea it's a stupid one." she said to him, not exactly in a huff more just a little frustrated at him.

The Doctor didn't even look at Clara "Shut up Clara" he said to her and just smiled slightly at the Hare "We just need all the help that we can get because the Red Queen isn't stupid and she will have a trap that is near impossible to break out of from the inside" he said as the three of them began to walk down the road "Hopefully we will find the others and we can think of a plan"

Clara didn't really see the point in trying to say anything to him. He wasn't going to listen to her anyway. He was too busy coming up with his own plans, as if he thought that just because he had done this a million times more than her, he knew best. Yet sometimes she wasn't so sure. "Wait! Hold up!" Clara said to him and placed her hand on his arm "From the inside, yeah? So that means we get in from the outside and break in, that way it is easier to break out."  
"RUN!" shouted a voice from behind them. "For heaven's sake if you value your lives run and get out the woods." the voice continued to shout.  
Clara spun around to see The White Rabbit and the Bandersnatch running towards them.  
"It's the Monstrous Crow. You can't hurt it, you have to escape it. RUN!"  
"I thought that Bandersnatch was on the Red Queen's side?" she said to The Doctor. "Or am I just reading too much into the book?"

The Doctor took Clara's hand and began to run "It was on the Red Queen's side until Alice befriended it. Have you seen the film with Johnny Depp as Hatter? Well that's sort of what happened. Alice gave it back its eye and it decided that it liked her but that isn't important now. The important thing is that we get away from this crow or it could turn out a lot worse than it already is"

Clara's eyes widened slightly as he actually seemed to take note of what she had just said, it hadn't occurred to her to actually run until he grabbed her hand and forced her too. She ran with him gripping his hand tightly. "Of course I have seen it. It's Johnny Depp, he is the only living thing that could ever take me away from you." she replied with a smile. She hadn't even known that she could run so fast and if anything she felt as though her legs were going to give way at any moment. Yet she wasn't going to let that on to him. He would only worry more about her. "As long as you know we can trust it that is all that you needed to say."

The Doctor smiled "Of course we can trust it" he said as he looked back and saw that the Bandersnatch was catching up to them "Clara get on the Bandersnatch's back. He will be able to carry you and get you away faster" he said to her. He was planning on getting on up after her but he just needed to know that she was at least safe and sound. "Don't worry, once you are on his back I will climb up"

Clara just looked to him, not sure if he was being serious or not, yet the look in his eyes told her that he was. She took a breath in and climbed up onto its back and found herself subconsciously wrapping her arms loosely around its neck. She wasn't really all that good with faster things, like roller coasters or Bandersnatches so it seemed, she closed her eyes and just tried not to think about it too much. The main thing right now was getting to safety, plus in a moment she would have The Doctor behind her, right?

The Doctor stayed running behind as Clara climbed up and waited until he was sure that she was properly steady and then climbed up himself and wrapped his arms around her. The Bandersnatch carried on running and it seemed to be getting them a good enough distance from the crow. He heard the horrible screeching from the crow and couldn't help but feel slightly afraid although he knew that no matter what it would all turn out right in the end

Clara felt slightly better as she felt his arms around her and subconsciously rested slightly back against him, still keeping hold of the Bandersnatch. She just wanted all this to be over. She opened her eyes and glanced back, at they seemed to be getting away from the Crow and that had to be a good thing. "When we get off this thing remind me to smack you for convincing me to get on in the first place" she said to him

The Doctor smiled at her "Why? It's getting us away from the crow faster isn't it?" he asked with a laugh and then just nodded "I will try and remind you to smack me if you really want to smack me" he added. He then glanced back and couldn't help but feel glad that they were a rather great distance away from the Crow but it didn't seem to want to give up. "Does this Crow not know when to give up a chase?"

Clara just smiled slightly. "I really want to smack you. I don't mind the running but this is a little to fast and its making me travel sick." she replied to him. She knew that she was being a little conscious of her own feelings too much and yet she couldn't help it. She didn't care that she was an egomaniac. "If it doesn't stop soon then I am going to bloody chase it myself" Clara complained and buried her face into the fur of the Bandersnatch.  
The Crow finally rose up into the air and disappeared into the clouds and out of sight.

The Doctor smiled at her "Just don't think about it and just think that at least we are getting away from the Crow" he said to her. He glanced back again and smiled when he the Crow finally seemed to give up the chase. He patted the Bandersnatch gently "Thank you" he said to him "Would you slow down so that Clara can get off before she gets too flustered?" he smiled.  
The Bandersnatch slowed down and finally came to a halt so that The Doctor and Clara could get off his back

Clara happily climbed off the Bandersnatch and turned to face it again, resting her hand into its fur and stroking it gently. "Thanks, I know I complained but thank you. I don't think I could have run any further" she said with a smile before turning to face The Doctor and smacking him across the face "You alright?" she asked him, although she had a feeling that she already knew the answer to that.  
"Yes I'm alright. You are alright aren't you?" he asked her, pulling back from her slightly.  
Clara simply smiled and nodded "Would you know if I wasn't?" she replied to him. Not exactly sure why she was answering him with a question, but that seemed to be the way that he rolled with her so why now play him at his own game. She knew when he was lying to her or when he wasn't alright and so she could only hope that he knew her that well too.

The Doctor kept his eyes upon Clara and his arms around her "You do seem a little light-headed. Do you want to sit down?" he asked her.  
Clara smiled towards him. "I am fine, really like you said a little light headed, nothing more." she replied to him with a smile "No I don't want to sit down." her eyes never left his face. "How about you? Still feeling light headed. Don't lie and say you weren't I know that face"

The Doctor didn't reply and instead looked to the Hare, who seemed just as light-headed as Clara after he had gotten off the Bandersnatch "Which way is it from here to get to the Red Queen's castle?"  
The Hare pointed straight ahead and then flinched and made a startled squeal as the Bandersnatch yawned.

"Looks like we have our heading then." she turned her head to look at the Hare and Bandersnatch. "You guys coming?"  
The Bandersnatch seemed to be quite happy about the idea of Clara wanting him to come along and licked her arm as if to tell her that he was coming along with them.  
The Hare didn't need to say anything as it was obvious that he was a little afraid of the Bandersnatch so he wouldn't be coming along

Clara just smiled towards the Bandersnatch. "Stop licking me, alright" she said to him with another smile and gently stroked its head. "Do you know the way?" she asked both The Doctor and The Bandersnatch, sure that at least one of them would. She only hoped that she didn't have to climb onto the back of the creature again. She certainly didn't feel like moving at that speed again.

The Bandersnatch nodded his head slightly at Clara's words and looked a little guilty about licking her. The Doctor looked to Clara "I think I know the way but I will say we should follow the Bandersnatch since I am sure he knows the way since he used to be on the Red Queen's side" he replied to her and then looked at the Bandersnatch "You know the way don't you boy?" he asked him, stroking his fur.  
The Bandersnatch nodded again and began walking along with them to the Red Queen's castle

Clara just giggled at his words. "You have no idea of the way do you?" she said to him with a smile as they followed on behind the Bandersnatch. She never really thought that this was a creature from Wonderland that she would ever make friends with. If anything. It just always seemed like it was on the Red Queen's side, but then again the books didn't tell you everything.

The Doctor just looked to her "Of course I know. I have a vague idea" he said to her and paused for a few moments "Alright, I am not sure where we are going." he said to her and then paused again "Okay I have no clue but shut up before you say anything" he then added as they walked on behind the Bandersnatch

Clara laughed at his words and just waited for him to finish talking. She knew that in the end he would have admitted that he hadn't a clue. "I don't need to say anything. You already know what I was going to say anyway" she replied to him with a smile. "Doesn't make you any less of a hero to me you know, just because you don't know your way. I am sure that not even you know everything, in fact I know you don't know everything. You probably know less than you think."

"Shut up Clara!" The Doctor said to her once she had stopped talking "didn't I tell you not to say anything?" he said to her, although he had a smile upon his face.

"Are we almost there yet?" Clara asked absent-mindedly  
The Bandersnatch looked to Clara as it spoke to her and made a few grunting noises in reply.

The Doctor looked to Clara "He says it is just around the corner" he translated for her, knowing that she wouldn't know what he said to her

Clara just smiled at him as he tried his best to be angry at her, yet managed to fail, as always. She leant up and pressed a kiss to the side of his face. As he translated the Bandersnatch for her she looked up at him again "You understand him? I mean I know you speak dinosaur but you speak Bandersnatch as well? Seriously, is there any language that you can't speak?"

The Doctor looked to her as if she had just said the stupidest thing possible "Of course I speak Bandersnatch. It is very similar to Dinosaur actually" he replied to her and then seemed to think for a moment at her question "I can't speak Unicorn but then again I am sure that they don't even have a language it's just noise"

Clara just looked at him. "You really are from another planet, Doctor" she said to him with a smile. "You know to humans animals are just noise. Oh and don't look at me like I am stupid" she continued "Because you know I am not. At least not as stupid as you think I am, or like to think that I am" she replied, and looked ahead of them again, finally to see the Red Queen's castle a few feet up ahead. "So what is the plan?" she asked him and looked up at him again. "You have a plan, right?"

The Doctor looked to her "A plan? Not exactly. My plan was to get into the castle and into the cage so that we can save the others but I haven't worked out how we are going to do that yet" he said to her. "Any ideas? Or any idea starters that might end up turning into a plan?"

"Well we could start with finding out exactly where the cage is and how we get inside it, that might be a good place to start for one thing. We just need to figure out how to get the information that we need" she said to him with a smile. "And I think I have an idea on how to do that, if you trust me that is and if you keep your big mouth shut and don't start rambling and dropping us in it."

The Doctor looked to her and smiled "Of course I trust you Clara. I just hope that you know what you are doing" he said to her. He then looked to the Bandersmatch "You staying here?" he asked it and when the Bandersnatch just made some grunts The Doctor looked to Clara again "He wants to stay here" he said to her "so you have a plan that involves me having to be quiet?"

Clara looked to him. "It's not a plan exactly more of a thing." she replied to him "You are not going to like what I have to say next but you have to promise me that you will shut up and listen until I am finished and then for once actually do what you are being told, Doctor." she said to him. She swallowed and paused for a moment, looking into his eyes. "I know you have a duty of care and it has taken me until now to realise exactly what you meant every time that you said that and I am saying that to you now. I have a duty of care over you." she wasn't sure how it had taken her so long to realise that him saying he had a duty of care was his own personal way of saying I love you, which meant that he had said it to her so many times and she hadn't ever seen it. "Stay here, with the Bandersnatch and stay safe. I need to know that no matter what happens to me you stay safe. You have shown me more than I could ever have imagined, Doctor and I love you for that. Now you have to trust me and do what the Bandersnatch tells you. I am leaving him in charge. You got that? I will see you later, Mister. Don't ever for one moment think anything else." she said to The Doctor before she turned to the Bandersnatch "You look after him. No matter what he does or what he says. You take care of him and keep him safe" she leant forwards and pressed a soft kiss in his fur. "If anything happens you get him out of here, under no circumstances do you let him come after me. Alright?"

The Doctor listened to Clara and couldn't help but smile at the fact that she was taking charge. He sighed softly "Fine but if you are not back within 1 hour then I am coming after you. No ifs ands or buts because I will not lose you Clara. I refuse to lose you" he said to her  
The Bandersnatch looked to Clara and the look in his eyes pretty much told her that he understood what she had said to him

"Thank you" she said to the Bandersnatch with a smile. "Ignore what he just said though, yeah. If he tries to follow me you get him out of here. I don't care how long I take." she said to it and rose back to usual height again and turned to the Doctor. "Trust me, no matter what happens I need you to trust me. If you trust me then you will know that you could never lose me. Not ever." she said to him before turning and running off through the trees.

Clara held her breath as she ran through the trees. She had absolutely no idea if this was going to work and yet she had to at least try. She slowly let go of her breath as she came to the Red Queen's castle. She couldn't back out now. She pressed her hand to the gates of the castle. Now there was just a matter of tricking whatever creature she was faced with into letting her open the cage. The strange thing was she could see the cage and yet there seemed to be nothing around. Save for a rather large statue, yet Clara had a feeling that this was what was guarding the cage; there was something about it that she didn't like. Something strange. She swallowed and took a few steps closer and stepped into its line of sight, only to be almost crippled by pain. A sharp pain that shot through her and caused her fall to the ground. She fought back the tears and closed her eyes, taking a breath in and forcing herself to stand again. The pain was almost unbearable. "Stop!" she called to it. "I mean you no harm, please just stop."  
"That is something that I cannot do for you, you see the pain is only give by you. It is you who has the power inside to make the very pain subside." came a voice that as far as Clara could tell came from the Statue that sat on front of her.  
"How?" Clara pleaded. "Please tell me how!" she knew that she couldn't stand this much longer.  
"A cat may look at a King and yet those who look upon me bring the fate they chose and cannot lose. For as you may already know the only way to stop is the pain is to turn around and go. Humans cannot understand the gaze of those that have upper hand."  
Clara shook her head slightly. "I can't go. Who are you? What are you? Why are you doing this to Wonderland? Can't you see that you are destroying it? Destroying me and trust me you wouldn't want to do that. You really wouldn't want to mess with the man I came here with, oh no. You see he has a duty of care and you really don't want to threaten that. So either you tell me what I want to know or I am saying put right here. No matter how much pain I have to endure and trust me I will take a lot of pain before I so much as think of moving."

Yet all the same Clara took a breath in and tried to move away from the line of sight. She had since figured out that if her days at school had been correct and she had been paying attention when it had come to mythology then what she was faced with right now was indeed a Sphinx. Only now there was just one little problem. Clara literally couldn't move, almost as though she was frozen unable to make any form of movement. She swallowed and almost choked on it, talking seemed to be the only thing that she could do. "How do you defeat a Sphinx?" she whispered to herself. "Come on Clara, think."  
"It is not what you can endure but what you can achieve and the question that can come from that is what do you believe?" the Sphinx spoke  
"Do you always have to talk in riddles. I get enough of those from The Doctor" Clara almost hissed at it.  
"Riddle me this and you see that your world doesn't have to end in catastrophe. If you can answer the oldest and yet unanswerable riddle know to life then and only then will you be freed from all the worries and strife."

Clara slowly closed her eyes, forcing back the tears. She wasn't going to let herself give up. She had to keep faith in herself. She forced herself to think of The Doctor, her Doctor, with his laugh and his smile and his hatred of hugging. She held her breath and took a single step forwards, yet the vision in her mind slowly started to fade. The pain was starting to get the better of her again, unable to stop the tears anymore. "DOCTOR!" she shouted, unable to keep the pain and fear from her voice. Yet what scared her more than the Doctor not being here was that if she gave up then he would be on his own. She couldn't allow that. " _God, if you can hear me you have to help me, forget what I said forget it all and just help me please"_ she silently begged him. She couldn't face this without him. She stopped again, yet kept her eyes firmly shut. She knew that she couldn't endure this for much longer. The pain only seemed to be getting worse as the seconds ticked by.

"Clara, don't try to fight it. Just walk either forward to get out of back and to me. Just don't fight it, power through it and walk"

Clara opened her eyes as she heard The Doctor's voice. Of course the pain was still there and it was impossible to ignore. As much as she wanted to get back to The Doctor, just to be in his arms again, she had to finish this. She wasn't one to give up, that just wasn't who she was. She held her breath and took a few steps forwards. "Tell me, the riddle what is it? Don't mess with me because I am in a lot of pain and I swear you do not want to cause the death of me."  
"The riddle that fall to thee cannot be answered by any of you three. The riddle that is on front of you will only cause the death of you for you see the question is Doctor Who?"

The Doctor's eyes widened when the Sphinx spoke and he knew that Clara wouldn't be able to answer that even if she knew the answer. Without thinking he walked forward and before Clara knew what was going on he had gently pushed her to the side and was now the one standing on front of the Sphinx. The pain instantly subsided and she felt a wave of relief over that. Yet now the Doctor was in the path of the sphinx and she had a horrible feeling that he was about to do something stupid. "Doctor! Don't you dare" she said to him.  
"Don't worry, Clara a Sphinx can only do damage and cause pain to Humans. Am I right?" The Doctor answered his companion, yet directed the last question at the Sphinx

"The punishment for not knowing the answer to the riddle set before you is death. So the only thing left to do is to take your last breath." came the reply of the Sphinx, yet now that The Doctor was in its path there wasn't anything that it could do. "There isn't anything that you are able to do to save her, Timelord, unless you give her to me off your own accord there will be nothing left to do but take her after getting rid of you."  
"Don't you dare, Doctor. Please I am begging you do not put yourself in danger for me. You know better than most that there as fixed points in time that can't be changed. If this is one of them then you could rip a hole in the whole of creation. I can't let you do that for me. Please, just let me do this. If you love me in any way then you will trust me and not destroy creation just for one stupid human." Clara pleaded with him.

The Doctor just ignored Clara's words because even though he knew that she was right he didn't want to lose her. "Then why not kill everyone? No one is ever going to be able to answer that, not even I can. You know what will happen if anyone answers that. Do you really want everything to end, if time and existence ends then you will too. Do what you want with me but don't even think about doing anything to her and trust me when I say that it isn't easy to kill a Timelord"

Clara just stared at him as he spoke. "Don't ignore me, Doctor! Listen to me, you have to listen to me. Trust me for God's sake, please trust me. I am not going to leave you. Step out of the way, before I push you so hard you will fall and regenerate." she said to him.  
"Everything has its time and everything ends. Everything must one day come to a point where it can no longer go around the bend. The path that she has taken can't be altered, no matter what the pain it will cause to you. Time and lesson is not something that you can undo." The Sphinx replied to him. "Anger won't save you now, but the one question you must answer is how?"  
Clara swallowed, if she didn't do this now then it was going to be the end of all creation and she couldn't allow that. Taking a breath in she closed her eyes and stepped in front of the Doctor. "I am sorry. I really am so sorry. Just don't say your goodbyes, not ever." she said to him.  
The Sphinx's eyes opened and a laser shot straight towards Clara and into her back, causing her to disintegrate into dust and the eyes once again closed.

"NO CLARA!" The Doctor shouted but it was too late. Clara was gone and it was all because of him. He felt tears in his eyes as he sunk to the floor, trying to force himself not to cry. He couldn't be without Clara. He just couldn't. He had wasted so much time pushing her away, almost trying to stop her from being with him when all this time he should have been pulling towards him and showering her with nothing but love and affection, only now it was too late.

The face of the Cheshire Cat appeared in front of the Doctor with a wide grin. "And you thought I didn't care. Sphinxes are not as clever as the like to think they are Doctor. It is relatively easy to trick one if you know how. I would have thought you of all people would know that. Don't say I never did anything for you."

The Doctor looked up to the Cat and didn't even seem angry, he was just too upset and lost to be angry "What are you talking about? What did you do for me? Where is Clara? What has happened to her? Please you have to help me get her back"

"You are not the only one with such skills, Doctor. Do you really think that I would let harm come to her and face your wrath. Not even I am that stupid. She's alive. She always was, let's just say you trapping my tail in your Chameleon Circuit may just have done you a favour. You notice something strange about Clara the moment she disappeared, almost a little flicker?" the Cheshire Cat replied and appeared on his shoulder. "That my dear Doctor is called transdimensional Teleport, something I am sure you can work out the effects of, just play along and you will get the others free, if the Sphinx thinks that he has won then we can get rid of it once and for all."

The Doctor looked to the cat and wanted to be angry at him for doing that but considering that he had just saved the woman he loved, he couldn't help but not be angry. He nodded his head to show that he understood what the cat was saying to him and mouthed a thank you before he stood up.

"Was that gratitude? Didn't think you were capable of showing such a thing towards me, Doctor" The Cheshire Cat said in a reply, before disappearing again and this time appearing on top of the Sphinx. "Well I must say you really are stupider than you look, I am not mistaken the cracks are beginning to show. I am sure that a Sonic Device would put them to good use, the only problem being I am transdimentional not Supersonic."

The Doctor took out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket "Good job I have these isn't it?" he said before putting them on "I bet you are wondering why I am putting on a pair of sunglasses but you see they aren't sunglasses because, I highly doubt that a pair of sunglasses could do something like this" he said as he pressed a button on the side and it made a buzzing noise, like his old Screwdriver used to and part of one of the Sphinxes broke off

The Cheshire Cat just grinned even wider and disappeared again, leaving only a head floating above the Sphinx's head. "You always surprise me, Doctor, even when I think that you can't" he said to him and totally disappeared.

The Doctor just grinned "I'm full of surprises"  
The Sphinx slowly began to fall apart until it was nothing more than a pile of ashes, and the door to the cage swung open. "See you all at The White Queen's palace, don't be late for dinner or she will be unhappy" said the Cat's voice, yet he appeared nowhere to be seen

The White Queen smiled towards The Cheshire cat as he appeared in front of her. "I trust the plan worked to our planning and went well"  
"It did indeed, Your Majesty" the cat replied. "If I am not mistaken then they will be on their way here now and with Tarrent to guide them it shouldn't be all that long. He never has been very good at staying away from your food"  
"Well that is a relief" The White Queen smiled once more. "Thackery! Could please refrain from your uncontrollable need to throw my very best plates against the wall? I would hate to see them all smashed to the smithereens as you have already smashed the others too"  
"She is alright isn't she? I think that The Doctor would kill me personally if I had told him a lie about her safety." The Cheshire Cat asked  
"Clara, you mean?" The white Queen replied with a wide smile. "No need to worry about her. After a lot of convincing and a sleeping draught, made yours truly, she is with the Bandersnatch, by the fire."  
Sure enough with her head rested against him and The Bandersnatch curled around her as though he was protecting her from the world.  
The Cheshire Cat turned his head. "Well then I guess all is well, if anyone can protect her better than the Doctor then it's the Bandersnatch" he grinned

The Doctor followed behind Tarrent just wanting to see Clara again. He knew that she was alright because he knew that the cat wouldn't have lied to him. Or at least if he had then he wasn't going to be responsible for his actions and he certainly didn't care who he angered with them.  
"How much longer is it? I need to make sure that she is alright" he said to Tarrent, The Hatter

"About ten seconds less time than the last time you asked me that very same question." Tarrent replied to him with a roll of his eyes. "You ask me that again and I will take a leaf out the Red Queen's book and be off with you bloody big head" he replied to him.  
Maliumkin ran up the pathway to the White Queen's palace and rapped on the door, only to have it open itself and scurried inside followed closely by Hatter and Bayard.

The Doctor just folded his arms to his chest and frowned "there was no need for that" he mumbled. He didn't say a single word as they walked the rest of the way. He then seemed to cheer up when they came to the White Queen's palace, at least he knew that he would soon see Clara. He stepped inside and looked around, trying to work out which direction to go in

As if by Magic The White Queen walked into the room. "You must be The Doctor, am I right? Clara's Doctor. It is all a little confusing, but that can't be helped. Is there anything that I can get for you? Feel free to look around, or if it is just Clara you are after then she is in the room two doors from your left with the Bandersnatch. Although I should warn you The March Hare has discovered some of my old plates and well just follow the racket and you will find it alright."

The Doctor spun around as he heard the White Queen's voice and smiled at her "Thank you, for keeping Clara safe" he said to her before running off in the direction that he had been told to go in,

"My pleasure" The White Queen replied to him with a smile. "You just make sure that hold onto her Doctor. She really does care very deeply for you, that much is easy to see just by looking at her." with those words she slowly walked off again.  
As The Doctor walked into the room the Bandersnatch lifted its head and just looked at him as if to tell him to let Clara sleep and that she wasn't in any danger. He knew that the effects of the Sleeping Potion the White Queen had given her would wear off soon and forcing it to wear off would have disastrous consequences.  
The March Hare just ran at The Doctor and hugged his leg for a few seconds before running away again laughing like a lunatic and picking up a plate, throwing it across the room against the wall that just made him laugh even more.

The Doctor smiled toward the Bandersnatch and nodded his head, he trusted him and he could easily see that Clara was safe, as the Bandersnatch was curled up around her. He looked down to the Hare as he hugged his leg and smiled slightly at him and couldn't help but laugh when he threw a plate "You know, you shouldn't throw the plates like that. There is no need to smash them surely. Can't you find another way to entertain yourself?"

The Hare looked at him for a moment and didn't move before he spun around to face the counter again and picked up a cup. "CUP!" he shouted before throwing that across the room instead and collapsing into laughter once more, finding another cup and throwing that as well.  
Clara moved slightly and slowly opened her eyes. If anything she was a little taken back and for a moment couldn't remember where she was. She sat up and turned her head, her eyes falling upon The Doctor and she just smiled at him, that same dazzling smile that she always wore when she saw him and leapt to her feet and just ran at him launched herself into his arms and hugging him "Doctor, thank god you are okay." Shhe wrapped her legs around his waist, never wanting to let go of him.

For once The Doctor wrapped his arms tightly around her and hugged her far tighter than he ever had, at least in this regeneration. "Thank God, you are okay. I was so worried about you, I thought that I had lost you. Never do that to me again"

"I had to. Don't you see? It was the only way that things would have been saved. You could have gone on and lived your life found someone else to show the stars and all the planets in this universe and whatever other universes that you find yourself in. I am just one human , there are so many more out there. You could easily take your pick of them" she said to him, her arms still tightly around him, yet she loosened the grip of her legs around him to allow him to let her down on the floor if he wanted. "You can't always save me, Doctor."

The Doctor let Clara back down on the floor, but didn't let go of her "I know that there is many more humans but I don't want any of them because they are not you. My impossible girl" he replied to her and then smiled at her "I can and I will. I have a duty of care over you, remember?"

Clara just smiled at his words. "You do realise just how pathetic that sounds, right? Never had you down for that." she replied to him with a smile. "How many times do I have to tell you that you don't? I never asked you for that. There are times when I need to protect you. I need to look after your hearts because they mean more to me than mine" she said him and leant up and kissed his cheek briefly before shrinking down to her usual height again.

"But I can just regenerate, Clara. You can't. If I lose you then I lose you for good but you can never lose me. You can spend the rest of your life with me but I can't spend the rest of mine with you" he said to her "So I need to keep you safe so that I can spend as much time as possible with you because I cannot lose you"

"Stop it!" she said to him "Stop that, right now, Doctor. I don't want to hear it. I am not going anywhere for a very long time." she said to him with a smile. "I promise you that. But I will never stop protecting you and I will never stop loving you. You will never lose me. No matter what happens to me you will never ever lose me as long as you remember me and everything that I have done you will never lose me" she continued. "What if I could spend the rest of your life with you?" she said to him. "Would you let me?"

"Don't say that Clara. You could never spend the rest of my life with me. You will eventually get old and die" The Doctor said to her. He then placed a hand to her cheek and just smiled at her "if you could then of course I would let you. I never want to lose you. I never want to be without you, even if I know that it will someday happen"

Clara reached up and slapped him. "Never ever say anything like that to me ever again. Do you hear? You never speak of losing me. Do you understand me?" she said to him, clearly trying to be as angry as she could be around him and determined not to let her face break into a smile.  
"You know there is a way that wouldn't hurt her?" came a voice from behind Clara, which made her turn around only to come face to face with The Hatter. "Well not exactly make her immortal just slow down the ageing process by a considerable amount of time"  
"How much time?" Clara asked, placing her hand over The Doctor's mouth to stop him saying anything.  
"A lot you would age say about five days in fifty years, although I should warn you it comes in the shape of a Potion made by The white Queen and rather much like anything that she makes in that sense it tastes like goblin piss, or in some cases worse."  
"And you are sure that this will work and that it will in no way harm her?" The Doctor questioned

Clara simply rolled her eyes. "Ignore him" said to The Hatter "how soon can you get her to make it?"  
"Not sure, it normally takes about an hour but she might already have some left over from the last time. I am not certain" Tarrent replied with a wide grin. "Come on what you standing there for" he said dashing over to a cupboard and opening it. "Let me see, no that isn't it, that would stop you aging but you would get younger, doubt that would work, that would kill you, that is Werewolf venom, that would kill us all, AHA! That one" he took out a bottle of a rancid green liquid. "Here, down that, hold your nose and just down it, don't think and don't throw up"  
Clara stepped forwards, she took the bottle from his hand and swallowed. "Well if it tastes half as bad as it looks then I don't want to know" she replied, closed her eyes, pinched her nose and began to swallow down the liquid.

The Doctor just looked to Clara and couldn't help but look disgusted as she drank the liquid. He only hoped that things didn't end up going wrong although he couldn't work out what could go wrong. He was just scared of losing Clara. More scared of anything that he had ever been in his life and that was saying a lot.  
The Hare walked in and found some cups and picked one up and threw it at Hatter and then started laughing, hysterically.  
The Hatter caught the cup in his hand and simply threw it back at The Hare. "Don't throw things at me, Thackery" he replied to him and turned to look at him. "Stop throwing things otherwise you will end up with my fist in your face and I promise that you won't like it one little bit" he said to him and started ranting at him in a Scottish accent.

The Hare looked to Hatter and just stared at him, not sure of what to do. He seemed a little scared of him especially when he stated ranting at him.

Clara dropped the bottle to the floor as she finished and made a face. "Urgh, seriously that is without a doubt the worst thing that I have ever put in my mouth and I have had a lot of things in there" she said. "And you shut up before you say anything?" she said pointing a finger to the Doctor and turned to face him and wrapped her arms around him, burying her head into his chest and just closing her eyes.  
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something when Clara spoke but closed it again when she told him not to say anything but he had a big smile upon his face. He simply hugged her back and held her close to him.  
Clara finally lifted her head from his chest and just stared at him. "Sorry, I just felt a bit weird, after that and didn't want you to worry about me because of the expression on my face" she admitted to him and moved back slightly to give him a little space.  
"I always worry about you Clara regardless of whether I can see the expression on your face" The Doctor said to her

"I am fine, really. I promise you that." she continued, if anything just to comfort him.  
The White Queen walked in through the door "Dinner is served if you are interested, although feel free to take your time." she said with a smile before leaving the room again.

"Oh for goodness sakes, Thackery will you please stop that? We are trying to eat here and with you throwing plates and cups around we have to keep avoiding them so that we don't get hit" Clara almost shouted at the Hare, but it wasn't that she was angry it was just so that he would hear her over his stupid laughter "Do I even want to know what half this stuff is?" she found herself saying in a low voice to The Hatter, to whom she had sat next too. She still had a hold of The Doctor's hand, it just hadn't occurred to her to let go and if anything she didn't want to.

The Hatter simply grinned at her manically "Not really, although most of it is quite nice." he said as he moved out of the way to avoid another plate.

"I will not tell you again. You would not like to see me angry so if you could stop that then I will be most grateful" Clara said to him which made the Hare sit back in his chair and stare at her. He then looked to the table and picked up a fork and stared at it as if it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen "Fork" he muttered happily to himself

"Please help yourselves, there is plenty to go around." The White Queen said with a wide smile.  
Clara reached out and got something, although she couldn't even guess what it was yet it seemed to a sort of off Pink colour and seemed to actually look eatable. She took a bite out of it and like The Hatter had said it was actually rather nice. "What is this I am eating exactly?" she asked  
"That, oh that is Poisoned Dragon's Liver, but fear not it is totally harmless. I think they just give it the name to make it more exciting." The Queen replied.  
Clara, somehow, wasn't put off by what the White Queen had said, the food tasted too good for her to be. She just wanted more of it and carried on eating it, jumping slightly as she felt something against the side of her leg, at first she thought it was The Doctor, resting his hand there or something, only it occurred to her that he was sat on her other side and she highly doubted that The Hatter, as mad as he was, would start groping her. She looked down and smiled as her eyes rested on The bandersnatch, she gently stoked its head. "I am going to miss you, you know" she said to it with a warm smile.

Clara subconsciously continued to gently stroke its head for a few moments as she finished her mouthful of food, yet finding that she wasn't hungry anymore she just continued. She gripped the Doctor's hand in hers and turned her head to look at him. "Can't we just bring him with us? Keep him as a pet and get him TARDIS trained" she said to him, not really being all that serious. She just wasn't really looking forwards to leaving it behind.

"I would if we could but I think he would get bored when we went travelling" he said to her "I mean we couldn't take him with us all the time because he might scare people"

"I was joking, Doctor" she replied him with a smile "We really need to work on the whole picking up sarcasm thing. I thought you had gotten the hang of it. Anyway where we going after this?"

"That all depends on where you want to go, Miss Oswald. Only don't say Betelgeuse there is nothing there except well there is just nothing" The Doctor replied "Where does Miss Clara Oswald want to go most in the whole universe?"

"Why do you always answer a question with a question and then answer that question yourself and proceed with another question?" she said to him with a smile. "You've always done that, it's annoying" she continued before turning away to look away from him. "Do you do it to annoy me or what?"

"It is just what I do, Clara. It helps you to know what the stupid answers are and hopefully in time I won't need to do it because you will have learn them all, although at the rate that you are going I starting to doubt that."

Clara raised an eyebrow at him. Sometimes she was sure that he went off in these rants on purpose just to take her off guard, or at least try to, and make her forget what she had asked him, simply to avoid giving her a straight answer, because heaven forbid could he do that. "Do you want me to slap you again?" she said to him. "Because I swear to you I will if you don't just shut up and give me a simple answer. A yes or a no would have been good enough. Only you could turn one word into an entire ongoing monologue."

The Doctor smiled at her "I wouldn't be me if I just said one word though would I and I am sure that you wouldn't change me"

"Never" she whispered to him "Still I am sure you can be trained to answer in simple terms when that is what I need."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow "Trained?" he said to her "Clara haven't you learned a thing from travelling with me? You can't just train me like some dog"

"You clearly don't know me that well. I can do anything that I put my mind to surely you know that"

"Yes, unfortunately only too well" The Doctor muttered under his breath

 **A/n: Not really sure that I like how this turned out but it I how it is. Hope you enjoyed it. I am defiantly not going to be writing Sphinxes into my fan fictions any time soon, it is strangely hard to make things rhyme all the time and talk in riddles. Anyway, Review and such and I will get on with writing the next chapter. Okay so thinking about it re- writing all the stories will make this way to long so I thought of doing I this way. I have a few ideas of my own so how about I get you guys to help me out. With each review tell me your favourite Doctor Who Episode and I will chose one of them to do every couple of chapters. How does that sound?**


	2. Upate about where I have been

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I have been without my computer for ages as its decidwed that it doesn't wan to turn on anymore. So until I can save p the £300 for a new one then I am a ittle lost. I know I probably should have said this sooner. I have a couple of chapters written up on paper and typing them up at the library, like I am typing this up right now will just take way to long as you only get two hours a day there. Sorry for the inconvenience. Review and let me know what you think of the first chapter and also let me know what you favourite episode from the past series are (although just from Series 1 - 7 until Clara comes in)


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